Chloe’s Very Late Birthday Celebration!

~told in the POV of Josefina~

I woke up before everyone else, as usual.

But something wasn’t usual about today.

I rolled over, and my eyes fixed on Chloe.

Morning sunlight streamed through the window, and then it hit me – August 5th was Chloe’s birthday, and we never celebrated it!

I sat up and whisper-shouted to my doll Jessa, “I have to do something!”

I set Jessa down,

Slid out of bed quietly,

And ran to Mama’s desk.

I looked at the sewing supplies I had set out before myself. I had to make a gift for Chloe – I had to celebrate her birthday in some way.

In fact, I contemplated, I should organize a whole birthday celebration for Chloe. All by myself…it will be my way of truly saying sorry after the way I treated her. If I don’t tell any of the other dolls about this, they can’t help, so the entire thing would be all me.

The more I pondered upon it, the more it sounded like genius. I looked up and saw the perfect string I wanted to use for Chloe’s first gift, pushed my sewing stuff aside, and started right on it.

“This will be the best birthday Chloe’s ever had!”

Much later, I finished my gift by tying it off with a knot.

“Perfect!” I marveled.

I tied it onto my wrist for size.

“It will fit Chloe perfectly,” I smiled.

“She’ll LOVE it.”

*

The dolls were STILL sleeping by the time I had finished making and getting Chloe’s gifts. I set up the party scene…

“Five, six, seven! Enough cups and plates for everyone. Phew, I thought we wouldn’t have enough!” I was talking to myself like usual.

Then I heard a faint beep, beep, beep coming from the kitchen. I gasped. “The cookies! They’re ready!”

I dashed to the kitchen and grabbed the apron.

I tied it as quickly as I could.

These cookies had to be perfect for Chloe’s party, and I couldn’t let them burn even for a teeny tiny second!

I grabbed a cloth to pull the cookies out with (since I don’t have an oven mitt), turned off the oven, and opened it. The wonderful aroma of the cookies wafted around me, and I deeply inhaled the scent.

“They’re just perfect,” I whispered to myself as I gingerly began to pull them out.

I set them by the cupcakes on top of the stove.

“I have the cupcakes, the cookies, the drinks are in the fridge, the bigger bookies on top of the microwave, I think I have everything…”

I heard movement in the room. I smiled to myself – everything was ready just in time!

When I arrived, Jasmine was saying, “The party’s obviously for me. I mean, everyone knows my birthday’s coming soon!”

Molly snorted. “Yeah, in like, two months? Your birthday isn’t in August!”

“The real question is, who set this up?” Ellie asked curiously.

“Did you, Chloe? You’re always full of surprises,” Jasmine asked.

“Nope! This surprise wasn’t from me!”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHLOE!” I shouted before anyone else could say another word.

“You mean… this… this is for me?” She asked in astonishment.

“Yes! Absolutely yes! Your birthday was August 5th, but I think we all plumb forgot. I just remembered this morning, so…I pulled all this together for you.” I smiled at her.

I then pulled her into a hug. “It’s my way of making things right,” I whispered in her ear. “I know you said you forgave me for what I did to you when you first arrived, but in my heart I knew I had to make things right somehow. And this is how I did it.”

Chloe smiled back at me happily, and I knew I made things right.

“You are the birthday queen!” I announced, placing a pink crown on top of her head. Now that I think about it, I had a beautiful blue crocheted one from Bitty Beanies that would’ve matched her outfit and fit much more perfectly, but I didn’t think about it until just now.

Anyways, I brought in cupcakes…

cookies…

more gigantic cookies…

sodas…

…and a chocolate cupcake for Chloe – her favorite flavor is chocolate!

Once we were all seated, we absolutely couldn’t wait to dig in. “You baked this?!” Ellie asked me, astonished.

“Yup!”

Soon we all grabbed treats!

All that was left was one sorry cookie.

The boombox played celebration tunes,

(like this one! Listen to it as you read.)

and we all chatted.

“Aren’t these cupcakes scrumptious?” Emelie was telling Chloe. “Yes, they certainly are!” Chloe answered.

“Anybody mind if I have this entire pepsi bottle? I’m gonna drink straight from it!”

“You really made Chloe’s first birthday here special,” Cécile said to me. “Thanks for doing that.”

I grinned at her happily. “You’re welcome.”

When we were done eating (I ate the last cookie, which was actually very good, because I was still hungry. All that baking works up an appetite, you know), I sat down Chloe in a spot where we could all see her and told her, “Now it’s time for presents!”

“Woah,” murmured everyone. “I can’t believe she thought of all this, just this morning!” Molly whispered to Ellie. I set before Chloe a little round bin wrapped in pink ribbon and garnished with a pink flower decoration.

Chloe opened it up, and pulled out the bracelet. I held my breath – would she like it?

“Oh my gosh! This is amazing! Josefina, did you make this? I love it! Thank you!” She gushed and I blushed. (Hey, that rhymed!)

Chloe tied it around her wrist and grinned at it.

Next was a big bag that wasn’t very suspicious looking, as half the gift wouldn’t even fit in.

“This is the most amazing swimsuit I’ve ever seen! Thank you so much! This is… amazing!” Chloe exclaimed. “You’re welcome,” I smiled.

“Wait!” I cried, jumping up. “I forgot – there’s – there’s one more thing,”

I scrambled to the kitchen and reached on top of the refrigerator. This was the big finale!

“WOW!” Everyone echoed each other as I plopped the gift on Chloe’s lap.

“Oh my word,” Chloe breathed as she stared at it.

She pulled the ribbon off…

…took off the lid…

…peered through the wrapping paper…

and gasped.

She gingerly lifted out the gift as if it was the most precious thing in the world, and for a minute, just stared at it.

Oh no, my mind raced. Does she like it?!

“She has my eyes,” Chloe whispered after a long time. It’s then I noticed her (Chloe’s) eyes were getting wet.

“Do you like it?” I asked hopefully.

“No.”

“I LOVE IT. This is the most amazing gift anyone’s ever given me. Thank you, Josefina! How did you know I wanted a doll? She looks almost exactly like me! I love her so much! I’ve always wanted a doll…oh my goodness, THANK YOU!!!”

I was the happiest doll on the planet that day – well, maybe besides Chloe. I saw Chloe smile the biggest smile, and I gave her a gift that she loved. More importantly, I made things right with Chloe.

I sighed contently to myself.

It was a good day. 

~THE END~

P.S. By the way, the doll Chloe received was not from AG, I just used an AG box for her. She’s a Barbie brand Kelly doll, I think. Chloe named her Christina. :-)